Whereas M. natalensis is known as
a serious pest species in sub-Saharan Africa, due
to its ability to undergo major population out-
breaks, no similar outbreaks have been ascribed to
M. coucha. Furthermore M. natalensis is known to
dominate rodent communities in recently dis-
turbed habitats, which may be resource limited.
Two species of mulitmammate mice, Mastomys
coucha and M. natalensis, occur in southern Africa
(Granjon et al., ’97). Mastomys coucha is endemic
to the region, while M. natalensis is widespread
through sub-Saharan Africa. The two species
cannot be distinguished morphologically in the
field and identification is dependent on cytogenetic
markers (Green et al., ’78; Granjon et al., ’97; Smit
et al., 2001) or multivariate discriminant analyses
of skull measurements (Dippenaar et al., ’93).
Mastomys natalensis is the most common murid
rodent of sub-Saharan Africa (Fiedler, ’88a). Due
to its sporadic population outbreaks it is consid-
ered an agricultural pest (Fiedler, ’88b). The
breeding potential of this species, together with
its high turnover rate (Leirs et al., ’96) allows it to
dominate within disturbed habitats affected by
factors including fire (Meester et al., ’79; Swane-
poel, ’81), drought, overgrazing (Bowland and
Perrin, ’88), or mining (Chidumayo, ’80; Ferreira
and van Aarde, ’96). It is also dominant on fallow
agricultural ground (Christensen, ’96).
Originally Posted by twh
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